Old School RuneScape: How to Level Up Smithing Skill Fast

Smithing in Old School RuneScape (OSRS) is one of the most straightforward yet capital-intensive skills in the game. It doesn’t rely on RNG-heavy mechanics or complex boss rotations. Instead, it rewards raw efficiency, optimized banking, and the willingness to convert large quantities of OSRS gold and bars into pure experience. If your objective is speed — not profit, not AFK comfort — this guide outlines the fastest progression path from level 1 to 99 Smithing.

This article focuses strictly on maximizing XP per hour while maintaining practical realism in terms of cost and accessibility.

Core Principle: Smelting vs Smithing

There are two primary ways to train Smithing:

Smelting ores into bars at a furnace

Smithing bars into items at an anvil

For pure speed, smelting — specifically at the Blast Furnace — dominates most of the leveling curve. Traditional anvil smithing becomes competitive only at high levels with expensive bars.

Understanding this distinction is essential before investing millions of GP into inefficient methods.

Early Game (Levels 1–29): Skip the Slow Start

The early levels of Smithing are inefficient if trained conventionally. Bronze and iron items offer poor XP rates, and smelting low-tier bars without optimization is slow.

The fastest early-game solution is completing The Knight’s Sword quest. This quest provides a massive Smithing XP reward and instantly boosts a level 1 character to level 29. It eliminates several hours of low-efficiency training.

If you prefer manual training instead, smelt bronze bars (copper + tin) or iron bars until 29, but understand that this is strictly slower than questing.

Levels 29–40: Enter the Blast Furnace

Once you reach level 29, training begins to accelerate — but only if you move to the right location.

The Blast Furnace, located in Keldagrim, fundamentally changes Smithing efficiency. It reduces coal requirements by 50% for most bars and allows faster smelting cycles compared to standard furnaces.

At this stage, smelting iron bars at the Blast Furnace is fast and relatively inexpensive. Unlike regular furnaces, iron bars here have no failure rate, making them consistent and efficient.

Expect roughly 50,000 to 70,000 XP per hour depending on click precision and stamina management.

This is where the grind begins to feel productive.

Levels 40–60: The Goldsmith Gauntlet Power Spike

This is the turning point of the Smithing skill.

After completing the Family Crest quest, you can obtain Goldsmith Gauntlets. These dramatically increase the experience gained from smelting gold bars.

Normally, a gold bar provides 22.5 XP.

With Goldsmith Gauntlets equipped, that jumps to 56.2 XP per bar.

When combined with the Blast Furnace, this becomes one of the fastest mid-level training methods in the entire game.

Gold ore is smelted without coal, simplifying inventory management and reducing processing time. The experience rates skyrocket into the 250,000 to 350,000 XP per hour range for experienced players.

This is not AFK. It requires constant banking, stamina potion usage, and precise clicks. However, the XP gain is unmatched at this stage.

If your goal is fast leveling, this method is non-negotiable.

Levels 60–75: Continue Gold or Consider Mithril

At level 60+, many players question whether to transition into higher-tier bars such as mithril or adamant.

For pure speed, the answer remains the same: continue smelting gold bars at the Blast Furnace.

Mithril and adamant bars provide decent experience per bar but require coal, increase inventory complexity, and typically result in lower XP per hour compared to optimized gold smelting with Goldsmith Gauntlets.

Unless you are aiming for partial cost recovery through item creation, gold remains superior in experience efficiency.

Expect consistent 300,000+ XP per hour with strong focus and stamina use.

Levels 75–90: High-Level Decisions

By now, you have two viable high-speed pathways:

Continue smelting gold bars for consistent and reliable XP.

Or transition into high-tier platebody smithing for competitive rates.

Gold remains highly efficient, but some players opt to begin smithing adamant platebodies at anvils once unlocked. This method converts bars into large XP drops per action, which some players find less mentally taxing than repetitive furnace runs.

However, the GP cost increases significantly at this stage, particularly if you move into rune bars.

If maximizing speed remains your priority and funds are not an issue, gold smelting remains a dominant method deep into the 90s.

Levels 90–99: Endgame Acceleration

At very high levels, smithing platebodies becomes more competitive.

Adamant platebodies offer strong XP per hour when efficiently produced and resold. Rune platebodies provide even larger experience drops per action but are extremely expensive and expose you to market volatility.

Despite these alternatives, gold at Blast Furnace continues to rival or exceed most other training methods in terms of XP per hour.

The limiting factor is typically attention span and stamina supply, not XP efficiency.

A focused player can maintain 300,000 to 350,000 XP per hour consistently until 99 using gold bars.

Cannonballs: The AFK Alternative

It is important to address cannonballs because they are frequently mentioned in Smithing discussions.

Cannonballs are made using steel bars and provide extremely low experience per hour — roughly 15,000 to 25,000 XP.

However, they are highly AFK and often profitable.

If your objective is speed, cannonballs are inefficient. If your objective is relaxed training while multitasking, they are viable.

For players focused on fast leveling, they are not recommended.

Optimization Strategies

Speed training in Smithing is not only about method choice. Execution matters.

First, always use stamina potions while training at the Blast Furnace. The constant running between conveyor belt, bank chest, and bar dispenser consumes run energy rapidly. Without stamina, XP per hour drops significantly.

Second, train in the official Blast Furnace world. In that world, dwarves operate the furnace machinery automatically, eliminating the need to manually manage it. This ensures uninterrupted smelting.

Third, use Ice Gloves when withdrawing bars. This prevents damage from hot bars and streamlines the process.

Fourth, maintain clean inventory setups. Efficient deposit and withdrawal patterns reduce banking time and increase overall throughput.

Fifth, avoid distractions. The difference between 250,000 XP per hour and 350,000 XP per hour is often pure focus.

Ironman Considerations

For Ironman accounts, the equation changes slightly because ores must be self-sourced.

Most Iron players combine Mining at Motherlode Mine with Blast Furnace smelting. This creates a closed resource loop: mine ores, smelt efficiently, convert to experience.

Gold ore may require dedicated mining or purchasing from specialized shops, which slows progression compared to main accounts.

Nevertheless, the Blast Furnace remains the optimal smelting method for Ironman efficiency.

Recommended Fastest Path to 99

For players seeking maximum speed with minimal deviation:

Complete The Knight’s Sword to skip early levels.

Train iron bars at Blast Furnace until 40.

Switch to gold bars with Goldsmith Gauntlets.

Continue gold at Blast Furnace all the way to 99.

This approach prioritizes experience rate above all else and minimizes method switching inefficiencies.

Cost vs Speed Reality Check

Fast Smithing is expensive.

Gold smelting at high intensity can cost tens of millions of GP from 40 to 99, depending on market prices. This is one of the few skills where speed directly correlates with financial investment.

However, it is also one of the fastest buyable 99s in the game.

Players who value time over gold consistently choose this route.

Final Thoughts

Smithing in Old School RuneScape rewards decisiveness. The fastest route is not complicated, and it does not change frequently with updates.

The Blast Furnace combined with Goldsmith Gauntlets is the defining efficiency breakpoint of the skill. From mid-levels onward, this method outperforms most alternatives in raw XP per hour.

If you are aiming for a rapid 99, embrace high-intensity gold smelting. Keep stamina active, optimize your banking rhythm, and treat each inventory cycle like a production line.

Smithing may be one of the oldest skills in the game, but when trained correctly, it remains one of the fastest to buy OSRS gold.